


Quarantined

by loki_of_jotunheim



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Crack, Gen, Nile survives!, Spyfest 2020 (Alex Rider), Very Very Cracky, being adhd and having to take a controlled substance to do anything functional is a Pain, characterizations are 100 percent influenced by fanon characterization and not cannon, i'll get back to the angst when i get back on my meds on thursday, nile especially what can i say i love fanon nile, yassen survives!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25244992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loki_of_jotunheim/pseuds/loki_of_jotunheim
Summary: Quarantined and bored. A deadly(?) combination.For SpyFest 2020 (Week 2). I blame my ADHD for this mess. FYI, It does contain some spoilers from Russian Roulette.
Relationships: Yassen Gregorovich & Alex Rider
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49
Collections: Spyfest 2020





	Quarantined

The alarm sounded just as the door swung shut behind Cossack and clicked. He frowned. 

_That wasn’t supposed to happen_.

He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on the teen who had frozen in place. 

Yassen resisted the urge to sigh. 

“Alex.” He said simply. The alarm hadn’t stopped yet. “What are you doing here?” 

“Uh - “ Alex said, apparently at a loss for words. Yassen let it go considering the last time the two had interacted Yassen had thought he was about to die and Alex was watching him die. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” 

“That’s what I assumed as well.” Yassen agreed, finding a lone chair and sitting down. “We’re going to be here a while.” 

“Uh - why?” Alex, who still hadn’t moved, narrowed his eyes. 

“That alarm is the lockdown alarm for quarantine. They’ve called one, presumably….” Yassen frowned. Why _had_ they called one? “For some reason.” He finished. 

“Quarantine?” Alex said. “...There’s a biological experiment lab back down the hall. I didn’t go in, so this is legitimately not my fault.” 

“Are things like that usually your fault?” Yassen raised an eyebrow at the boy. 

“...yes?” Alex said, but it was more of a question. “Wait. Why are _you_ here?”

“I came to retrieve something,” Yassen explained. “Thankfully not whatever it is you are holding. That might cause some problems had it been.” 

“You mean, problems for me.” Alex said sarcastically.

“You’d survive,” Yassen reassured him. 

“Thanks for the confidence in my abilities,” Alex muttered.

“You’re good at what you do. I’m better.” Yassen said simply. It was just a fact. Yassen had years of experience on Alex. Alex wandered around for a few minutes, poking at things, before jumping and sitting on one of the counters in the room.

“Why’d you send me to Scorpia?” Alex asked suddenly. “Did you know about Scorpia killing my parents?” 

“Scorpia killing your parents?” Yassen blinked. “You mean the plane?” 

“Yes, the plane.” Alex snapped. 

“MI6 was responsible for that.” Yassen said slowly. Right?

“No.” Alex shook his head. “Scorpia paid my godfather to blow it up.”

“I did not know,” Yassen said honestly after a moment of silence. “I had been led to believe MI6 was the party responsible.” 

Had Rothman or whoever had ordered the hit still been alive today, Yassen would have killed them without a second thought. 

“It does make more sense that Scorpia would have ordered it,” Yassen said, half to himself. “How I never questioned it…” 

“You really didn’t know.” Alex stared at Yassen. 

“No, little Alex.” _Sasha_ , A voice supplied helpfully. It sounded a lot like Yasha. Yassen ignored Yasha. “I did not. As to why I sent you to Scorpia…Let me tell you a story.” 

“A story? Like...a bedtime story or something?” Alex quieted at the chiding look Yassen sent him. “Alright, alright, a story.” 

“There was a boy who grew up in a small village in Russia.” Yassen began. “It was a quiet, poor town….” 

As Yassen told the story, Alex grew aware of some very uncomfortable similarities between the assassin and the teenager. 

Both of them had lost their innocence, in a way, at the young age of 14. Yassen had been forced to run and had seen his close friend die shortly after, while Alex had been blackmailed into spying. (The significance of Alex meeting him on his first mission wasn’t unnoticed.’) 

And then Hunter, John Rider, had shown up in Yassen’s life. The first person to teach and respect Yassen since he had been a teenager from a still unknown village. The first and only adult to give Yassen the survival skills he needed. 

The first person to offer Yassen a way out. 

Alex saw what he hadn’t quite understood before, on the rooftop. He had, a little, understood the man had let him go hoping he would return to normal teenage life. But he hadn’t quite grasped how much the man had risked in doing so.

Alex had suspected Yassen hadn’t only had orders about Sayle (or that he hadn’t had orders about Sayle at all). 

“I told you on the plane, Hunter saved my life.” Yassen touched his scar. “We were on my first assignment - after the two failed ones.” 

“Wait - failed?” Alex interrupted. “Scorpia didn’t kill you for that?” 

“Surprisingly, no.” Yassen answered. “They sent Hunter instead.” 

“And he trained you.” Alex murmured. “That...makes sense. Sorry for interrupting.” Yassen nodded, accepting the apology and continued. 

“A black widow spider had crawled onto my neck. I couldn’t move for fear it would bite and give our position away, but I also couldn’t alert Hunter that I couldn't make the shot. So I whistled. He saw it, and lined up the riffel so it shot the spider and the target.” Alex’s mouth dropped a bit at that. That kind of skill - to shoot a spider off a man’s neck without killing him _and_ kill another man in the same shot… Alex could see why his father had been renowned in Scorpia. “Your father told me, “Taking a life and saving a life … and with just one bullet. That’s not bad going.””

“That’s not.” Alex agreed quietly. He was almost afraid to ask the next part. “....what changed?” 

“Patience, Sasha.” The assassin gave him an amused glance. “Our next assignment was in Paris. We were to assassinate a senior officer in the French police. He had gotten greedy with Scorpia and had become a liability.” 

“Like Sayle.”

“Like Sayle.” Yassen agreed. “It was an assassination meant to send a message, so we had been ordered to kill him in his home. So we did and Hunter gave me a knife. Barely bigger than a butterknife. He told me to do it. I couldn’t.”

Learning the man had had three failures before...something had changed, was oddly, reassuring to Alex. 

It also scared him...what had Hunter done to cause Yassen to become the man he was today? 

“We left for the airport shortly after he had completed the assignment. I planned to run to Russia, figure something out. Your father went to get a coffee.” 

“He wasn’t getting a coffee.” Alex said, feeling dread curl in his stomach. 

“He was calling MI6. At the time, I also believed he was calling SCORPIA to inform them I was planning to run.”

“You thought he’d been lying to you the entire time.” Alex said quietly. 

“Yes.” Yassen said. “At the time, it made sense. In hindsight, the assumptions I made were very incorrect.” 

“But you didn’t tell SCORPIA about the call.” Alex persisted. “Did you?” 

“They still do not know.” Yassen confirmed. “After, I went back to Sharkovsky’s house.” He paused. Alex didn’t speak for fear of not hearing the rest. 

Yassen paused, examining Alex. 

He was hanging onto every word Yassen said. He most likely still had not been told much about his father or his mother, and Yassen reminded himself to tell Alex about seeing her in Paris, briefly. 

“I found Sharkovsky and he had a handgun in the desk. There were 5 bullets in the 6 chambers.”

“Reverse Russian Roulette.” Alex breathed. He looked horrified. 

“Sharkovsky wasn’t the one who played.” Yassen continued quietly. “If I had not survived, well.” Yassen didn’t need to state the outcome. “If I did, my path was set. His son came into the room shortly after. I shot him and left.” 

“From how you described him, I can’t say he’s much of a loss.” Alex muttered. “And then you went back to Scorpia.” 

“And then I went back to Scorpia.” Yassen finished. 

“You thought Scorpia might be a way out of all this,” Alex said quietly. “That I’d run instead of stay. Like you.” 

“Yes.” Yassen confirmed. “You’re not an assassin, little Alex. But they could teach you how to survive long enough to get out.”

“I think your plan backfired.” Alex finally said, but not meanly.

“It would seem so.” Yassen agreed. An idea had sprung up. 

MI6 and Scorpia would have his head on a _platter_ if he went through with it.

“Alex, how would you feel about spending your summer vacation in Russia?” 

“What do you mean, the facility is on lockdown?” Nile snapped at the person on the other end of the line. “Cossack hadn’t made it out yet. No, that’s not his fault, if the timing was right he would have _just_ gotten to the room. Whatever happened was not on any schedules! Just...just send a team.” Nile snapped the phone shut a little harder than necessary and glanced up to see a _very_ familiar face headed his way. He groaned. 

“Nile.” Mrs. Jones said, drawing to halt beside him. “Interesting place to find you.”

“I could say the same about you,” Nile said, with just enough of an edge to hopefully make her uncomfortable. It didn’t. Drat.

“That information is classified.” Mrs. Jones replied pleasantly, but Nile had a horrible, horrible suspicion. 

“ _No_. You didn’t.” He exclaimed furiously. 

“Didn’t what?” Mrs. Jones gave nothing away.

“You sent Alex in there. _Again_!” Nile resisted the urge to stab the woman. 

“Alex is not -”

“Cut the bullshit.” Nile snapped. “You’re still using him, just like you did a few months ago. I _knew_ the kid going inside looked familiar!” 

“You saw Alex? Here?” Mrs. Jones said, but it just wasn't convincing. 

“Don’t fucking lie to me. You sent him here. And now he’s stuck in there with - “ Nile cut himself off. “One of ours. You’re an idiot.” 

“Scorpia has a man inside?” Mrs. Jones demanded. “Who?” 

“That’s classified.” Nile shot back. “But Alex’ll be fine, don’t worry any more than you already do. Which is close to none anyways.” 

“Contact your person.” Mrs. Jones said, icy cold. 

“I can’t. The lockdown cut communications.” Nile admitted. “I have to wait, same as you.” 

He considered it a win that she didn’t argue, and just stood next to him as they stared at the building. 

MI6 and Scorpia’s assault teams stared at each other uneasily as they stood in their respective formations, waiting for the all-clear to go in. 

Finally, after a moment, the alarms stopped. The teams readied themself. After 10 minutes they could go in. 

About halfway to that point, two heads popped up on the roof. Everyone glanced up simultaneously.

Nile held back a laugh at Yassen and Alex. 

“Hi!” He called cheerfully up to Cossack. “What’s up?” 

“The sky.” Alex deadpanned back, having to yell a little. “Unless you want to have me sit on your head, you’re gonna wanna move back.” 

Nile moved back, as did the rest of the two groups as a pair of ropes came tumbling down the side. Yassen swung over first and Alex followed shortly. The two landed in tandem and straightened up. 

Yassen and Alex gave each other a long look before heading to their respective organizations. Nile was going to get shot for the amount of questions he would have for Yassen later. 

“Bye Alex!” Nile yelled before the groups headed off. “Oh wait! Hang on! I have a present!” 

“Alex do not - “ Mrs. Jones was cut off by Alex rolling his eyes and jogging over to Nile. Nile handed him a knife. He’d been saving that thing for _ages,_ ever since he’d seen it in at a flea market of all places and thought of the little assassin-spy-in-training _._ Alex was going to simultaneously hate it and find it hilarious. 

“...I almost want to stab you.” Alex said, staring at the knife's handle. “I love it.” 

“Ha! I knew you would. Bye Alex!” 

“Bye, Nile!” Alex waved and headed back to Mrs. Jones.

Somehow, MI6 and Scorpia made it out without a single death on either side. Success!

Mrs. Jones had no idea what the picture on the new knife Alex had meant but it worried her. A threat? A warning? 

But Alex had shaken his head with a small grin. 

“I mean, that’s part of it.” He had said. “But mostly it’s funny.” 

“I don’t see the humor.” Mrs. Jones really hadn’t. A cat carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck? 

Quietly, to herself, Mrs. Jones admitted it _was_ kind of adorable, though.

**Author's Note:**

> The summer in Russia bit is inspired by pognosis's devil and the fics where Alex runs off. Because I love the concept of Alex running off with Yassen and learning shit. 
> 
> Also, I choose to ignore Yassen knowing about the plane being Scorpia's doing from Russian Roulette. Why would they lie? Why would MI6 let everyone believe that? Who knows! Certainly not me. But it doesn't make sense that he'd send Alex to the organization that killed his parents, so I ignore him knowing it was him. The continuity issues can be nice like that sometimes :). 
> 
> And finally, thank you to everyone in the twitter gc and the AR discord who suggested the picture for the knife. It is adorable. If there's a "Why did he give Alex a knife?" blame crack. i am 100% aware this doesn't make sense at all.


End file.
